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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: tim in jersey on May 29, 2024, 08:49:25 AM
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Part of my pre-flight check the night prior to a gig is to make sure the battery is topped off, and then attaching it briefly to the deck and make sure everything looks kosher.
When I arrived to the show the next evening I realized I had left the power bank plugged in to the deck overnight and the battery had lost 3 or 4 (maybe 5? my old man eyes are dog shit) segments. I run an L-series battery as redundancy, so no biggie, still had at least enough juice for 3-5 hours before the L-series would ever have kicked in.
It's an Anker power bank and only about 3 months old, so I kinda think it's not the battery going south already. I also ran a run-time test once I fully recharged and got the expected results.
So what may have happened, other than me having a senior moment by not disconnecting the USB-C cable overnight?
Additionally, I only remove the L-series battery every 3rd month or so to throw it on a charger and have never noticed much of a dip in amount of charge available, if at all, so to me it seems isolated to powering via USB.
Not a big deal other than remembering to disconnect the power bank from the deck when not in use.
Has anyone else observed this? Maybe the TC gen, clock, and/or BT draws power over USB even when powered off? I know the TC gen only maintains itself for about 4 hours after powered off according to something I read from SD.
In any case, something to be mindful of.
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My MixPre6ii is permanently connected via USB-C to an Anker power bank in a Sachtler bag. I last used it a week ago and the battery is still fully charged. In fact, I had to push the power button on the Anker battery to have the MP6ii recognize it was there.
I have no explanation for your situation...
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The MixPre 3/6 decks respond differently depending on the brand/model of USB power bank in use. If the power bank has a “low current” mode (i.e. will charge small devices like a smartwatch, etc. without shutting down) the Mixpre will draw a small idle current through its USB port. This can, over time, noticeably discharge the bank, depending on its capacity. There is nothing broken or wrong with the Mixpre. I have several power banks and I found that my Anker 26000ma/hr bank does not discharge, so that stays with my mixpre-6ii. I also have a RAVPower 15000ma/hr bank that works fine. A 10000ma/hr Romoss bank does discharge a bit overnight if left plugged into the Mixpre. This bank will charge low current draw devices, which explains why. As a precaution, I’ve adopted the habit of disconnecting the USB cable from the power bank between uses just to be sure it’ll be as charged as possible when needed.